Showing horses at Winter Fair a family affair
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/03/2018 (2958 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Three generations of the Lane family are showing horses this week at the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair.
It’s a legacy that doesn’t escape Jim Lane of Birtle, who is a few days shy of turning 70.
“That means a lot,” he said of the family involvement in the farm he built up, Lone Oak Percherons. “It’s nice to see them taking an interest in doing that. That’s sort of why I was building (the herd) all those years.”
A welder by trade, Lane switched to working as an equine rancher, engaged in the collection of pregnant mares’ urine, in the early 1980s. They also began tending to Percheron horses, which he been showing and promoting at shows ever since.
Through years of selective breeding and choice stallions, Lane has grown the herd to more than 200 registered Percherons.
Lane said he is in the midst of turning the farm over to the second generation, his daughter Tina and son-in-law David.
Lane’s three granddaughters — Courtney, 21, Chelsey, 18, and Robin, 14 — are also showing horses at the fair.
In a lot of ways, it has become a family affair, one Lane wants to remain involved in.
“I’ll keep working with the kids as long as I can,” he said Monday, a few hours out from his four-horse hitch competition.
Lane says he has been showing at the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair in Brandon for more than 30 years.
His son-in-law David Collier has been by his side at the Winter Fair the last 23, 24 years, he estimates.
As for his daughters, they’ve been at the fair “ever since they were babies,” he said. They’ve shown horses since around the age of six.
“It’s good to have them involved,” David said. “Some day, hopefully, one of them will carry on the business, too.”
When one of them is competing, the rest of the family is supporting.
“Everybody’s down there watching and cheering them on,” Collier said.
This week, the family is represented in a host of heavy horse classes, from junior cart and ladies cart to the big six-horse hitch.
They participate in events throughout the year, including shows in Birtle, Dauphin and Carman.
They plan to visit Des Moines, Iowa, this fall for the esteemed World Percheron Congress.
The youngest member of the family, Robin Collier, first started showing miniature ponies nearly a decade ago.
Now, she’s tending to draft horses in showmanship, cart and junior team competitions.
The family support is “really helpful,” she said. “Especially when I’m just learning how to do things.”
» ifroese@brandonsun.com
» Twitter: @ianfroese